fortuneswheel

by Lisanne Norman

  She left him with Kaid and Chena, going downstairs to arrange with his mother about getting a bed made up for him as well as organizing sleeping arrangements for herself and Chena.

  Taizia was sent for the housekeeper while Rhyasha accompanied Vanna back upstairs.

  “Of course Taizia and I will see to Carrie. I’ll have an extra bed made up in Kusac’s lounge, and you and Chena can have the guest room you used last time you stayed with us.”

  “I’d prefer an extra bed in the room with Carrie,” said Vanna. “Chena and I will take it in turns to stay with her to make sure she’s all right.”

  “I’ll see to it at once.” Rhyasha prevented Vanna from opening the door. “Thank you, my dear. Both my son and his mate are very dear to us.”

  Vanna gave a wry smile. “Think nothing of it, they’re my friends, too. I just hope life settles down for them now. They seem to go from one crisis to another.”

  Vanna left Kusac and his mother together for the moment, going over to Brynne.

  “Thanks for coming, and for helping,” she said. “I’ll have to stay for a few days.” She hesitated. “I think it would be better if you returned to the guild.”

  Brynne nodded. “They’ve got enough on their hands for the present,” he agreed. “Will you need the aircar or can I return with it? I came in a public vehicle.”

  “I’ve everything I need here, so take the aircar.”

  “I might as well leave now. There’s nothing more for me to do, and I’ll just be in the way.” He went toward the door, giving her a nod as he left.

  She frowned, surprised at his easy acceptance of the need for him to leave, but she could sense nothing untoward through their Link.

  *

  Kusac’s father had called Mr. Hamilton back with the news of Carrie’s condition. He then called the judge on the Kahalossa who had issued the interdiction concerning the Challenge, demanding that steps be taken to make all Challenges involving telepaths illegal. It was agreed this matter should be put before the Sholan World Council at the soonest opportunity. All the laws of Challenge needed to be reviewed to make sure no more such loopholes existed. Sholan telepaths were too rare and too valuable among all the Allied worlds to be risked in the Challenge system because of ancient laws still on the statutes.

  A new department would be set up specifically to mediate in matters arising out of a conflict concerning any telepath, whether it was personal or legal. They agreed that an arbitration system was needed to deal with circumstances such as Kusac and Carrie had found themselves in. That done, Konis finally began to relax, knowing that never again would any parent have to face the possible death of both his son and his bond-daughter because of a Challenge.

  *

  After Kusac had been settled upstairs, Kaid called Garras, Meral, T’Chebbi, Rulla, Dzaka and Lhea to the small in house staff lounge for a conference.

  “It looks like the current threat to them is over now,” he said. “We’ve got the last of the two killers, and all reports from Nazule and other major cities show that on Shola, at least, there is no fear of a treaty with Earth. Similarly, re ports from the Khalossa and Rhyaki show that the crew orientation program is now working. However, we aren’t going to relax our vigilance yet.” He looked round them all, making sure each one thought he or she was the sole focus of his attention.

  “As new mixed Leskas occur, they will be assigned body guards until we are sure there are too many of them for them to be satisfactory targets for any dissidents.”

  “You expect there to be that many?” asked Meral.

  “Yes, I do. Your dues to Stronghold will continue to be paid for you all as well as a basic wage. Where you’re living on an estate, the estate will pay you and feed you. This is the arrangement that has been decided will be the easiest to implement. We’ll rotate you, so you can have some time back at Dzahai for training. Any questions?”

  There were negative headshakes and murmurs from two of the four Warriors.

  “Who are we working for, Kaid?” asked T’Chebbi.

  “Me.”

  “Not the Brotherhood?”

  Kaid shook his head slowly, eyes locked on hers.

  T’Chebbi’s eyes narrowed as she met his gaze. Abruptly, she nodded once. “I’m with you.”

  “Anyone else have a problem?” he asked, looking straight at Dzaka. No one had.

  “Good. T’Chebbi, take over command of the troops outside. Stand half down now for a meal and rest period, then rotate them in for the night shift.”

  “Aye, sir,” she said, getting up and leaving.

  “Lhea, you’re on duty with Vanna till tomorrow morning. Stay near her and rest when you can. I’m sorry you have a heavy duty, but I need Garras for something else. Is Maylgu still watching Brynne?”

  “Yes,” said Lhea.

  “When you leave here, contact him and tell him he’s on the same shift length as you. You can go.”

  “Aye.”

  Left with only Garras, Rulla, Dzaka, and Meral, Kaid looked over to his old friend, “Well, Garras?” he asked, raising an eye ridge, his ears pricking toward him.

  Alone of the five, Garras had relaxed back into his chair from the beginning of the meeting. “Considering his companion is Liegena Taizia, I think it would be a wise move,” he drawled, watching Meral with an amused look on his face. His tail tip flicked lazily from its position on the chair.

  Meral’s ears went back apprehensively.

  “If we adjust the shifts, can you cope?”

  “Depends how quickly he learns. We’ll need some time at Stronghold, or do you intend to dispense with that?”

  Meral was looking from one to the other of them. “You’re not talking about the Warrior Guild, are you?” he asked.

  “This conversation hasn’t happened, Meral,” said Kaid sternly, his eyes locking on the young male’s. “We’ll observe the rules for now, Garras.”

  “No, sir,” said Meral, obviously fighting to keep his ears as vertical as possible.

  “You can’t join the Brotherhood, you know that, don’t you? You must be invited in. You’ve probably seen us visiting the Warrior Guild to recruit.”

  Meral nodded.

  “We pick likely candidates, ones with the right talents, and then approach them. Your guild doesn’t like us doing that, but we have the right. Each person is handpicked, either as a child or at around your age.”

  Meral’s ears had risen again. “You’re not… asking me, are you?” He looked from one to the other.

  Garras nodded.

  “You have qualities we need,” said Kaid. “Are you interested?”

  “Yes,” he said. “But why me? There’s nothing that special about me.”

  “Telepaths don’t tend to choose companions who are Talentless,” said Garras. “Now what have you got planned for me to do, Kaid?”

  Kaid flicked his ears in recognition of the point Garras had scored. “You and Meral are leaving for Dzahai Stronghold. I can’t leave them now, and I want a message delivered in person to Ghezu. You can enter Meral’s name on the role of members while you’ll there. He’ll need a sponsor.”

  Garras nodded. “I’ll sponsor him. What’s the message?”

  “Tell Ghezu I said he’s had his proof now. I won’t allow this to happen again. Remind him I owe them nothing, all debts are now paid.”

  Garras got slowly to his feet. “Come on, lad, we’re leaving,” he said. “I think I’ll see the clerk before I give Ghezu your message.”

  Kaid’s mouth dropped in a rare grin. “It would probably be best,” he agreed.

  As the door shut, Kaid turned to look at Dzaka.

  “You’re planning to break from Stronghold,” he said.

  “I’m not with Stronghold,” Kaid reminded him.

  “But the others are. You said next time you left, I could choose to come.”

  Kaid nodded, watching Dzaka carefully through half closed eyes. He was deadly tired now. He needed to sleep. “When I’m re
ady, I’ll tell you.”

  “What happens if Ghezu calls me back?”

  “That’s your decision, Dzaka,” he said quietly.

  “You expect me to decide to disobey Stronghold without knowing why?” he asked in disbelief.

  “The rest of us will,” said Rulla. “What makes you think you deserve an explanation when we don’t?”

  “Trust, Dzaka. You either trust me, or you don’t. You have to decide. You wanted the right to make up your own mind, well, you’ve got it now.” Kaid got to his feet. “I’m leaving you on duty, too, Rulla. Dzaka, too, if he’s staying. T’Chebbi will tell you what needs doing. I need to sleep.”

  *

  Both Carrie and Kusac slept for the remainder of that day and through the night.

  By morning, Kusac had recovered from the shock. He was only marginally blocking Carrie’s pain because she was under such a heavy dose of analgesics that they were affecting him. As a side effect it was lessening the pain in his shoulder.

  Vanna was using Kusac’s desk comm to call up the Medical Guild to speak to one of the research doctors there. She was explaining her theory that once the Leska Link was established between a Sholan and a human and the pair were fully compatible, there was a biological trigger that forced them to reproduce immediately. She was hoping that after that first child was born there would be a decrease in that dependency and fertility, or a return to the normal Sholan voluntary control over conception. Whatever else, some provision had to be made for the Terran females who had never had the option to voluntarily control their fertility.

  Kusac left her to it and went for his shower. As he passed through their bedroom, he saw Carrie was still asleep. He stopped to check on her, finding that the blood transfusion was finished and her color had improved. She no longer looked like she was at death’s door. He gave an involuntary shudder, aware of how close to death she had come. Trying not to disturb her, he reached out to touch her face, needing to make sure she was really there and alive before going into the bathroom.

  Once in the shower, he had the grisly task of washing her blood and his out of his fur. A good portion of the left side of his body, from shoulder to knee, was stiff with blood and the water ran red for several minutes as he worked his matted fur loose. The last moments of the fight when his fear had triggered the gestalt Link forced themselves through his mind again, and he leaned against the cubical wall while guilt and grief finally caught up with him.

  He was aware of nothing until a hand touched his shoulder from behind. Startled, he turned round and, blinking through the spray of water, saw Carrie. The color was draining from her face as slowly, despite her grip on the shower door, she slipped down to the floor. Jumping out, he grabbed her around the waist and lifted her to her feet before carefully swinging her into his arms. Shaking his head to clear his vision, he ignored the water he was dripping everywhere and carried her back to the bedroom.

  “What in Vartra’s name do you think you’re doing?” he demanded, trying to put her back into the bed.

  She clung to him, refusing to be put down. Her weight was pulling on his injured shoulder and finally he sat on the bed himself, holding her on his knee.

  “I’m getting everything wet,” he said reproachfully, looking at the water spreading from him onto the bed and soaking her lightweight sleeping tunic.

  “I felt you,” she said, tears beginning to roll down her cheeks. “You mustn’t blame yourself, Kusac,” she said, the fingers of her good arm clutching the fur on his back. “I was just as terrified. It could just as easily have been my fear that triggered the gestalt. We’ll never know for sure.”

  He held her closer, resting his head on hers. “You mustn’t cry, Carrie. I thought you were asleep or I’d never have let myself get upset. I’m sorry, Leska.”

  “She was so beautiful, Kusac, so tiny and beautiful. It wasn’t hard to love her,” she sobbed. “I wanted her then.”

  “You saw our cub?”

  “I asked Vanna this morning. I couldn’t bear to have never seen her.”

  Kusac picked up the image, Carrie’s grief amplifying his own.

  “We mustn’t, Carrie,” he whispered gently, trying to control their emotions. “She’s gone. We’ll have to let the grief go, too. I know you wanted her, I could feel it in you. You were just afraid.”

  “I want my baby back, Kusac,” she wept, burying herself against the damp fur on his chest.

  Kusac heard the door open behind him and it was with relief that he sensed Vanna coming in.

  “Hush,” he said, holding her tighter and rocking her gently, trying not to let her utter sense of loss dominate him, too.

  Vanna came round to his side, applying the hypoderm to Carrie’s right arm where it was wrapped around Kusac’s waist.

  “Just a mild sedative,” she said quietly as Carrie’s sobs slowly decreased. “You’ll be able to put her back on the bed now.”

  Kusac could already feel her drifting off to sleep. Getting up, he turned and carefully laid her down on the dry side of the bed, pulling the covers over her.

  “I don’t know how long she’ll grieve like this,” Vanna replied to Kusac’s unspoken thought. “With us, the body goes into a state of rest for what would be the remainder of the pregnancy, but Terrans can apparently conceive again shortly afterward. According to Jack’s data, they also brood more over other people’s cubs until they either have a full-term pregnancy or their hormone levels return to normal. But us,” she sighed, “we’re almost that new race, neither Terran nor Sholan. There is no one who knows what will happen. She could come to terms with it tomorrow, or still be desperately wanting a cub next month.”

  “The solution is with us, then,” he said, checking to make sure she was asleep before following Vanna back to the lounge.

  “I wouldn’t come out here like that,” she said with a faint grin. “You’re still dripping wet.”

  Kusac looked down at the floor. There were wet footprints all across the carpet and a small puddle was developing around him.

  “Go and finish your shower,” she said. “Carrie will sleep for a couple of hours and it’s what she needs most at the moment. I’ll give her something to help cope with the grief when she wakes. Not drugs, something more natural.”

  *

  “Carrie’s not up to attending the funeral, Kusac. Be reasonable,” his mother said. “She’s not even had a full day to come to terms with her loss.”

  “I am being reasonable, Mother. The funeral will release Carrie from her grief because she’ll see our cub is dead. She needs to let go of her, put her to rest. She can’t do that while she knows her child lies in the shrine.”

  “This argument has gone on long enough,” said Konis. “See what Vanna has to say.”

  When Vanna joined them, surprisingly she shared Kusac’s view. “I agree with Kusac. Granted she’s still extremely weak, but she does need to start coming to terms with the death of her cub so that the healing process can start.”

  “I’ll contact Ghyan, then,” said Kusac, going over to the comm unit.

  *

  It was midafternoon when Ghyan arrived. The tiny funeral pyre had been laid at the front of the house, not far from the newly-planted flower bed. A chair had been brought out for Carrie to use and Kusac had carried her downstairs and settled her in it.

  The gathering was small, only their immediate family plus a representative from the estate. Silent tears stole down Carrie’s face as she held on tightly to Kusac’s hand. She didn’t hear a word that Ghyan said. When it came time to light the bier, she roused, rubbing her hand across her face and demanding that she do it.

  She struggled one-handedly to get up, pushing Kusac’s restraining hand away. “I’m doing it!” she said fiercely.

  “Then let me carry you over,” he said quietly. “You can lean on me while you light it.”

  She nodded and he lifted her up, carrying her over to the bier. He set her down, holding her waist while she tried to get her
balance without putting any weight on her injured leg. The effort it took for her even to be downstairs was telling on her face.

  I’ll manage, she sent, knowing she didn’t even have the energy to hide her pain from him.

  His mother handed her the torch. She’s not strong enough for this. You’re pushing her too hard. There was censure in her mental tone.

  I have to do it, Rhyasha, Carrie replied on their private Link, rendering them both speechless. She clutched the torch, finding it too heavy for her to hold up. “Help me, Kusac,” she said, looking up at him.

  His dark-furred hand closed around hers and together, using his strength, they lifted their torch and thrust it into the heart of the pyre. The flames licked upward, almost invisible in the strong sunlight as they cradled the tiny body in their midst.

  Kusac picked her up again, stepping back from the bier so his parents could place their torches. As they did, Carrie felt the presence of Rhyasha’s mind at the edge of hers. Konis’ followed, to be joined by Taizia and Kitra.

  The keening started then, as low as the sighing of a breeze through the trees. As it grew in volume, she became aware of the dozens of minds that hesitantly touched theirs at the edges of perception.

  Tears were rolling down Rhyasha’s cheeks as she leaned forward to touch Carrie’s face. It’s the tribute of the Clan, Carrie. They’re sharing your grief hoping to lessen it by their presence. I’ve only experienced it once before. They’re telling you that you’re part of our Clan.

  Carrie lay back against Kusac, resting her head against him. She could feel the rise and fall of his chest, the smell of his fur and the feel of his arms enfolding and protecting her. She closed her eyes.

  “What is a Leska?” she’d asked.

  “It has to do with our merging,” he’d replied. “We are as one— Leskas to each other. Now sleep.”

  It had been so long ago— a world away and a lifetime in the past. She was tired, so very tired, and cried out of tears. He was right, sleep was what she needed. She relaxed, letting herself drift, feeling warm and comfortable in his arms.